Your Greatest Fear
by SkyDreamer12
Summary: "What do you fear most of all young Garmadon? Think about that." No. I didn't want to think about it. Because the more I thought about it the more I realised how weak and pathetic I truly was. So much power, so much potential, so much danger... So. Much. Fear. (Set between S6 and DOTD, Rated T because I'm paranoid, The True Tournament Rewrite).
1. The Labyrinth

**Hey everyone!**

**So I was miraculously given time over the Easter weekend to finish this and publish it! This fanfic will be solely Lloyd focused and is basically how I would've wanted the whole Tournament thingo to happen. (This is the rewrite of 'The True Tournament').**

**IMPORTANT: This will be set between Season 6 and Day of Departed. Also Season 4 has happened meaning the plot will be **_**very**_ **different to the plot from Season 4.**

**Enjoy!**

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**Your Greatest Fear**

**Chapter One: The Labyrinth**

'_It is not common knowledge to many that Ninjago is in fact apart of the 16 realms that build up our universe. These realms have only been journeyed to by the First Spinjitzu Master and his Sons. Though these realms are also used for banishing extreme criminals within Ninjago, there is only a select few realms that are used for these disciplines. The Cursed Realm is a classic example, holding many of Ninjago's most notorious criminals, mainly including the Anacondrai generals, sentenced there for beginning the Serpentine War. _

_Perhaps one of the most mysterious expulsions, was the banishing of Katan Kage _**(A/N: pronounced Car- j)**_, once a very well known Sorcerer. He had a strong disrespect toward many citizens of Ninjago. Constantly causing havoc and chaos across the country, Kage become very well known for his extreme cases of 'fun'. This disregard of safety and responsibility as a Sorcerer soon led to great mistrust amongst the Elemental Masters, and other Sorcerer's combined. Katan crossed the line, several years after the Serpentine War, when during one of his pranks (that citizens had learned to fear), he was accused of a tragic murder of a little boy. It was unclear on what actually happened, but this death was what lead to Kages' banishment._

_The realm he was banished to is unknown, but many historians have presumed that-'_

The rest of the page was ripped. I sighed in frustration. I had read this single passage about a hundred times already. I had been in Uncle Wu's quarters and had seen this book. It was bound in green leather, with sixteen symbols on the front. The title had been illegible and yet I couldn't help but feel fascinated by it. The symbols looked slightly familiar, but every time I tried to recall where I'd seen them, all I got were some hazy memories.

Ever since the Morro… _episode_ I had been researching my father's past. After he had _passed_, it didn't take me long to realise I hardly knew anything about him. I had been gathering information up to the Serpentine War and it was nothing I didn't know. Though, there was a gap of information from the War to when Sensei Wu banished father to the underworld. This was the only information I could find to fill that gap and it was old. Plus it wasn't even whole! I had hit a dead end.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! I hurriedly shut the book, as the alarms blared through every speaker in the Destiny's Bounty. Nya's voice loudly echoed through the ship, causing me to block my ears.

"EVERYONE REPORT TO THE BRIDGE IMMEDIATELY! I REPEAT, REPORT TO THE BRIDGE IMMEDIATELY!"

I sighed and slowly got out of bed. I couldn't help but feel that this whole thing was a drill. If it was that would make it the… tenth time this week! I got out of my pj's and into my ninja gi. It took me about ten seconds. At least these drills had done one thing, improved my changing time.

All I wanted to do these past mornings was read, which was _really_ weird for me to want to do. I can tell you Kai wasn't the only one who was slightly concerned for me. He kept telling me I should focus more on my Sensei training, which was definitely coming along… if at snail pace.

"LLOYD WOULD YOU HURRY UP! THIS ISN'T A DRILL!"

When Nya's voice came through the speaker again, I only hurried up by a margin. The '_this isn't a drill_' line had been used on me before, more than once, and it was getting old.

As I half ran, half walked to the bridge, I couldn't help but ponder on that name, _Katan Kage_. It sounded so familiar, but where I'd heard it, I couldn't for the life of me think where.

"Thank you, for finally turning up, Lloyd." Nya scowled uncharacteristically. These extra drills had been tiring everyone out… though Nya _was_ the one issuing them… okay and _maybe_ I had told her she could be in charge of the drill's this month…

"I wasn't _that_ slow." I shrugged. Normally I would be very concerned with our reaction times, but now? Honestly, I didn't care. She was probably going to now tell us how fast we responded and let us go back to whatever we were doing. And then I'd be forced to go to the training deck, because we need to be ready for what other evils might come our way, blah blah blah blah...

Okay, I was being a _bit_ of a hypocrite, because I'd given that speech several times myself. I was just really feeling out of it today and I really wanted to find out more about this Katan Kage and why he sounded so familiar.

"I've received a distress call from Hiroshi's Labyrinth." Nya said. My ears pricked up, my attention was now solely on the mission… more or less. "Borg's reported the alarms have been tripped but the security cameras can't pick up on who or, more importantly, _what_ has triggered them."

"How do we know it's not just some stray animal who's accidentally wandered into the Labyrinth?" Jay asked.

"There is no possible way an animal could accidentally wander into the Labyrinth, Jay." Zane deadpanned.

"Besides, Borg would've told us. The security cameras haven't picked anything up remember? No animal's _that_ stealthy." Cole argued.

"Fine. But if this turns out to be a false alarm-..."

"I doubt it's a false alarm Jay." I quickly stepped in, sensing an argument brewing. "I doubt Borg would've sent out a distress signal if it wasn't serious."

Jay huffed and turned back to Nya. "Is there anything else we need to know?"

"Well, the Labyrinth is on lockdown, meaning…"

"Meaning we're going to have to _break_ in. Great." Kai finished sarcastically.

"Yeah, well, Borg sent me the blueprints to the Labyrinth so it won't be _too_ hard." Nya sighed and began to input the coordinates into the Destiny's navigator.

"We should be arriving in about 3 minutes." Nya reported.

"Come on team. We should get warmed up first on the deck." All the ninja followed Cole out, well except for me. I just needed to check on something…

"Hey Lloyd? You coming?" Kai called out.

"Y-Yeah, I'll be there soon!" I called back distractedly, my eyes frantically searching the blueprints of Hiroshi's Labyrinth.

"Bingo." I muttered to myself, a smile spreading across my face.

* * *

I stared at Lloyd curiously. He seemed… out of it. His reaction time was significantly slower than our last sparring match and his attacks were sloppy. I had noticed he hadn't been improving over the past training sessions despite them being far more frequent and demanding.

After knocking him to the ground a third time (with nothing but a simple fire blast!) I was feeling slightly concerned. "Lloyd? You okay? You seem… distracted." I smiled at him and he smiled back but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Yeah. Never better. Why'd you ask?" I gave him an exasperated look.

"Um… maybe because I just beat you... what, _three_ times in the last minute with my simplest attacks! You're barely even trying! At least put a _little_ bit of effort in!" I threw my hands in the air in annoyance at his stubbornness. Lloyd just smirked.

"Want to go again Kai?" He challenged.

Sighing, I went to give him a roundhouse kick. To my surprise (which is actually very sad) he dodged it and flipped over my head. I turned around a second to late, as a giant ball of green energy hit me in the chest. I was blasted across the deck and hit the mast. Okay… maybe a roundhouse kick wasn't the _best_ move.

Landing painfully on my butt, I looked up slightly dazed but with a smile on my face. "I thought this was a sparring match?" I joked.

Lloyd shrugged. "You wanted me to try." He gave me a small smile but I could tell something was bothering him.

"Hey? You okay?"

"I'm fine, Kai." He said a little _too_ quickly.

"Lloyd, no y-"

"WE ARE APPROACHING HIROSHI'S LABYRINTH. EVERYONE PLEASE REPORT TO THE DECK." Misako's voice boomed out of the speakers, interrupting our conversation. Lloyd quickly made his way to where Jay, Cole, Zane and Nya were already gathered. Huffing in frustration, I followed.

"Zane, where's the best place to enter the Labyrinth?" Lloyd asked.

"Judging by the blueprints, we need to enter from the north side, which is on the opposite side of the Labyrinth. It is the least fortified and will be quite easy to infiltrate." the nindroid replied.

"Okay, and the security rooms?"

"When we enter there should be two major security rooms to the left and right. I suggest we split up to cover more ground."

"Good idea, Zane. Jay, Nya, Kai, go to the left. Zane, Cole and I will go right. We'll use the communicators to let the other group know if we've found anything. Other then that, radio communication must be kept to a minimum." Lloyd told us. I still found it hard to imagine how we even made it through the tomb while he was possessed by Morro.

Misako's voice came out of the Destiny's speakers again. "WE ARE ABOVE THE DROP ZONE. GOOD LUCK NINJA."

We all hurtled over the edge of the Bounty, using Airjitsu to land softly on the jungle's undergrowth. Immediately, Zane ran over to what looked like a giant moss covered rock and tapped on it a few times. He gestured for the rest of us to come over.

"I am pretty certain this is where we need to enter." He told us.

"Positive?"

"Lloyd, he's a _nindroid_, he can't go wrong." Jay shook his head in exasperation.

"Okay, just checking." Lloyd began to gather energy in his hands and blasted the 'rock'.

A sheet of metal fell away from the wall revealing a lit, high tech-looking passage inside. Before the metal sheet hit the ground, Cole caught it and frantically gestured for everyone to get inside.

Once they were safe he pulled the metal back and waited for me to weld it back on.

"Lloyd, I know your our leader and you should know what you're doing… but what part of _stealth mission_ didn't you get?" Cole's eyebrows furrowed.

I glanced back to look at Lloyd and was surprised to see him slightly pale. He looked almost… afraid. He was staring at his hands in slight shock and seemed to take a moment or two before he fully registered that Cole had spoken to him.

"S-Sorry, I-It slipped my mind." He chuckled and attempted an apologetic smile that fooled nobody. "A-Anyway, now we need to split up. Zane, Cole, come on." Lloyd turned around hurriedly and sped down the right corridor.

Zane and Cole looked at each other, shrugged and followed. I looked after Lloyd, knowing something was bothering him. Before I could ponder this any longer however, my sister interrupted me.

"Kai? Come on! We need to go!" Sighing, I turned around and followed Nya and Jay.

* * *

That was close… _too_ close. I was getting distracted and that was dangerous. Dad had taught me the importance of focus while using my powers, saying that if I didn't, there could be disastrous consequences. I'm not sure the rest of the ninja realised how close that really was...

Shivering, I took a deep breath and turned back to my teammates. "Zane do you know where to go from here?"

Nodding, Zane took the lead. I couldn't help but feel _slightly_ claustrophobic in the unending, high tech corridors. I was beginning to think that _maybe_ I wouldn't be able to find that computer.

After walking down several corridors, Zane finally stopped in front of a locked door. "Cole, would you like to do the honors?" I asked, not really paying attention but looking down the corridor trying to get my bearings to where I was, according to the blueprints at least.

Cole's transparent form gave me a small smirk and raised his fist. As soon as it collided with the metal, the door was blown off its hinges. "Probably should talk to Borg about his security, Lloyd. Still might need a little work."

Rolling my eyes, I let Zane and Cole enter first. I stared down the hall, knowing I would need to head that way. Unbeknownst to the rest, I had actually studied a decent size of the blueprints, at least so I could navigate to a single location and back. Letting Zane lead was merely to avoid suspicion. I was sure Borg would have information on this Katan Kage. I mean, the Realm Crystal was here right? He must have loads of info! I just needed to find it.

"Lloyd? You coming?" Cole's voice echoed from the security room.

I pondered that question for a bit. If I went now,

I'd be able to get back a lot faster and wouldn't have to come up with an excuse to leave. I needed to be as focused as possible if we were going to complete this mission, staying would merely make me distracted,

"Yeah, I'm coming, just… need to check something out first." I began to make my way down the corridor, ignoring Cole and Zane's queries, determined to find answers.

* * *

"Lloyd? You coming?" I asked as Zane and I flicked through the security footage. So far we hadn't uncovered anything of use. Zane was planning on scanning through all the cameras to pick up on anything suspicious that Borg's security team may have missed. What _was _suspicious… okay, maybe not suspicious just weird, was this room. It was huge! I could hear my voice still echoing off the metal walls.

"Yeah, I'm coming, just… need to check something out first."

"Okay, that's fi- wait. Lloyd! Where are you going?" I shared a glance with Zane and sighed. We ran out to the corridor calling Lloyd's name but he was already gone.

"Should we call the others?" I asked Zane, concerned.

"I am contacting them now."

"But Zane, it's not an emergency!"

"Then why did you ask me?"

"W-Well, that question was more asking if we should than if we _can_…"

"Cole, I think it is best if we let the others know. And I am a nindroid, the smart one, remember?" Zane asked sounding (and looking) slightly amused.

"Yeah okay, but we better be quick. Remember, we need to maintain radio silence… as best as we can."

Zane nodded and handed me my communicator. Solidifying my hand I carefully took the device and held it up to my ear, realising now I couldn't actually put _into_ my ear because I was a... you know... ghost. There was a crackle of static. Eventually the static cleared (albeit only slightly) but there was no answer.

"Zane while we wait for them to pick up, could you continue to search through the footage?"

"There shouldn't be any interference's. There should be immediate contact." I shrugged and Zane turned back to the computers and plugged in a USB that seemed to scan the footage with some sort of… program? Zane, Jay and Nya had manufactured it, I had no idea how it worked.

"I will need to speak with Borg and get these fixed. If they are malfunctioning then-"

"...ole?...What's….matter?..." Nya's voice came through my communicator but it was full of static.

"Lloyd's run off. Don't know why, he just has. We thought we'd tell you cause Zane thought it best…oh and is your communicator full of static?"

"Cole." I turned to Zane quickly. I was surprised to hear apprehension in his voice, almost as if he was scared of something.

"No... fine….ere...ny...ing...else?" Nya asked as I stared at the screen that Zane was pointing to. And my eyes widened. Looks like Borg _had_ missed something, how he missed it I had no idea. We needed to get Lloyd back in here… _now_.

"Um, yes. There's-"

"...ust...wait...Cole…...om...hing's...ere…."

"Nya! Wait! What's there?" The communicator was suddenly filled with static… well, more than before and then the connection broke. "Nya? Nya! What happened?"

"Zane we've got a problem. Something's happened to the others." I turned to look at Zane but he seemed to be looking at something else in the doorway.

"Cole I do believe we have more pressing issues at hand." I turned towards the door and my eyes widened even further. I got into a fighting stance, ready to attack at any moment and wondering if maybe I should go invisible, at least to gain some ground on this very advantageous enemy.

There was a _huge, _lime green serpent, with red slits for eyes and two large fangs, dripping with venom. The giant serpent rearing in front of us, lowered it's head. I tensed, expecting it to launch forward and bite us. But instead a person stepped off the serpent's head. As the person moved into the light, I was able to make them out better…

And my jaw dropped.

"What are _you_ doing here?" I asked.

"I'm merely extending an invitation."

"To what?"

"How would you like a shot at a second chance?"

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**A/N: Dun dun duuuuuuuun! So I planned for this chapter to go a **_**lot**_ **longer than this, but I wanted to publish something to get this story started. **

**Please leave a review! They really motivate me to continue writing (the nice and constructive ones at least).**

**Have a Happy Easter and if you don't celebrate that then have a great weekend!**

**Until next time!**

**SkyD12 Out!**


	2. The Invitation

**A/N: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm back! Did you miss me? Probably not, it's only been a week. School's started back up again (for us peeps in Australia anyway) so I might not be able to update as frequently. I'll aim for once a week but it might end up being once a fortnight or possibly a month, depends how much free-time I get.**

**Also I have just realised my own continuity error… Cole's still a ghost. Oops, XD. I'm about to go back into the previous chapter and make that a bit more obvious now. Sorry, it completely slipped my mind...**

**Anyway, please enjoy!**

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**Chapter Two: The Invitation**

Oh. My. Lord. I take it back, _this_ was the second biggest snake I had ever seen. It's scales were a crimson red, with green slits for eyes and it's fangs were literally _dripping_ with venom. Almost as if it was drooling over the idea of consuming my sister, Jay and me.

I gulped and gathered fire into my hands hoping that my attacks would at least _damage_ the serpent. Without an actual plan of attack, except _attack_, I ran at the serpent hitting it with the biggest blast of fire I could.

It did absolutely _nothing_. Though it did move it's attention onto me... _brilliant_.

"Kai! Continue to distract it!" Nya yelled. I didn't even look at what they were doing. They had a plan and I clearly was the distraction, that's all I needed to keep going.

"Hey! Fang face! Over here!" I called out. Yeah, not my greatest insult, but my mind was a bit focused on the massive flippin fangs that were quickly getting closer and closer. At the last second, I blasted myself out of the way, continuing to hover in the air using my fire.

"Come on! You can do better than that!" I teased. The snake reared and lunged forward and I dodged the attack. Over and over again it continued to lunge and over and over again I dodged the serpent. Sometimes I was able to punch him in the eye or the snout, but that was mainly just so I wouldn't end up being eaten.

I was beginning to feel slightly fatigued from continuously using fire to hover, and I wondered what Nya and Jay were trying to do. Whatever it was, they needed to hurry up fast.

"Nya? Jay? Whatever you're going to do, do it now! I don't know how much longer I can keep this up." I tried to look around to see where they were… in hindsight, that wasn't a very smart move.

My slight distraction gave the snake enough time to rear back and lunge and I didn't have enough time to get out of the way before one of it's venom saturated fangs sunk into my arm.

I screamed out in agony and fell to the ground. Immediately, my vision began to blur and I felt extremely groggy. I couldn't stand.

Panic-stricken, I turned around to look at the blurred red serpent, but something wasn't right. It was completely still. Then I realised, it was in a very large puddle of water and that was alive with electricity. I smiled slightly as I thought with satisfaction that I had completed my part of the plan. The red blur suddenly begin to keel over and hit the ground with a mighty thud.

I groaned a bit as a burning hot agony coursed through me. Whatever venom this snake had, it worked fast.

"Kai! Kai you okay?" Two coloured blur's ran over to me, asking me questions I could barely comprehend.

"I-It h-h-_hurts_." I managed to breathe out pathetically. I could feel my consciousness slipping and my arms, which were no longer able to hold my weight, collapsed. I was now lying on the cold metal floor.

"Kai, come on buddy. You need to stay awake." I barely took in the words. I turned to look around past the coloured blurs of Nya and Jay.

Black spots were appearing in my vision but there was no way I could mistake that red blur slowly rising higher and higher above us.

"Kai, please just _say _something." Nya begged desperately, tears falling down her face. Jay and Nya were oblivious to the danger behind them… I had to warn them.

"B-b-behind… y-you." The two looked over their shoulders a moment too late. The snake lunged. Nya screamed and Jay yelled in… agony? But before I could register anything, the world went black.

* * *

'_No…no…no...no..._' I thought as I flicked through Borg's files of information on the super-computer (as the blueprints called it). I was beginning to second guess Borg's amount of important information on here. There was heaps of random stuff on inventions he'd made, invention's he was planning on making before the Overlord took over, inventions he _was_ making, but nothing on history and… you know… _important _stuff.

Just before I was about to go back to Cole and Zane, a thought struck me. Borg _wasn't_ this obsessive with himself and his inventions to put all this random and, slightly cool, stuff into a _super_-computer. No, this was clearly a ruse to disguise the real information… but where was it.

As I continued to flick through the files I noticed something. There was a single file that was named, '_My Most Boring Inventions_', but that wasn't what caught my eye. It was the fact that this file had _tons_ of terabytes of content. It was hardly noticeable and if I hadn't been looking for something off, I probably never would have realised it. Heck, I wouldn't even have looked into it, half of the files here were labelled something similar.

A triumphant smile tugged at my lips, and I clicked on the file. Immediately I was disappointed, not because it wasn't what I had expected, it was because _all_ the information was encrypted. Even the sub-files were locked under _fifty_ levels of encryption.

Sighing in frustration, I pulled out a USB I had brought along… just in case something like this happened. The only problem was, this USB wouldn't be able to handle this much information. Meaning, I would only to be able to choose _one file_. Quickly looking over the encrypted information I saw a sub-file that had a symbol on it… it looked familiar.

It was a single line with several other smaller lines surrounding it. Almost like an explosion occurring at the tip of a stick? A wand perhaps? It didn't matter, what did matter is that this symbol was on the front of my book (Okay, my Uncles book, whatever). I clicked on it and stuck the USB into the computer.

I sighed hoping this would give me at least _some_ information. As I waited for the USB to copy the encryptions, my communicator buzzed.

I frowned. It was from Cole to Nya… I shouldn't have been able to access it. Curious, I still answered the call.

"Cole? What's the matter?" Nya asked. What was the matter? I did tell them to only call each other if they found something… or of course if they were in trouble, but that really didn't need to be mentioned, it was pretty much common sense. A sense of dread began to rise in my chest.

"Lloyd's run off. Don't know why, he just has. We thought we'd tell you cause Zane thought it best…oh and is your communicator full of static?" I felt _slightly_ guilty. So they were telling the others he had run off… also why was Cole's communicator full of static? It was the best tech out of Borg's supply. Shouldn't it be clear and fine? Unless… someone else was trying to prevent Cole getting to the others.

"No. We're fine here. Anything else?"

There was a very brief pause before-

"Um, yes. There's-"

"Just wait, Cole. Something's here." My eyebrow's furrowed as I frowned. Both of them sounded… scared, nervous. What was happening? I immediately began to regret leaving Cole and Zane so soon.

Suddenly both communicator's cut out, but not before I heard a voice… a voice I was _very_ familiar with.

What was _Ronan_ of all people doing in Hiroshi's Labyrinth?

* * *

"A second chance to what exactly?" I asked Ronan. He was just standing there beside the large serpent, so calm and amused by our current predicament.

"You guys remember the… Anacondrai incident?" I felt Cole's transparent form tense beside me. It was _very_ clear in my mind, especially since we lost Sensei Garmadon that day.

"We remember it better as the '_Tournament of Elements_'." Cole spat with disgust.

"I see your memories are slightly _unhappy_ when it comes to this." Ronan remarked and then _smiled_.

It was not often that I felt angry. I was supposed to be the cool and collected one on the team, the eye of the storm if you will. But right now, I wanted to pierce Ronan with the sharpest icicle I could conjure… okay that was going a bit far, maybe I wasn't _that_ angry.

"_Slightly unhappy_, does not even cover it, Ronan. We lost a lot during that Tournament, and not just our powers." I replied as coolly as possible, trying to not let my anger show. Unlike Cole, who was shaking with fury, though it was a little hard to tell, due to him being a ghost.

"Yeah that's right. Lloyd's Dad died during that last battle didn't he?" Ronan asked so _flippantly_. Like he did not even care! To be fair, he probably didn't.

"Just get to the point, Ronan!" Cole hissed. It was unlike him to be so angry, but I couldn't blame him. Ronan was being absolutely _infuriating_.

"My point being, is that I'm here to offer you an invitation to a _second_ tournament of elements-" Before Ronan had finished however Cole had hit the ground with his fist, causing the Earth to tremble. Ronan merely frowned before nodding toward the giant snake, who had stood immobile this entire time.

"_I suggest immediate evacuation from your current situation, Zane. That serpent does _not _look like it will play nice. Calculating possible escape routes_." Pixal cautioned.

I began to look all over the room as the green serpent drew near. "_Possible escape routes… none found. I'm sorry Zane, looks like you're going to have to fight your way out of this one._" I nodded and turned toward the lime green snake.

The ground was still trembling from Cole's hit and now he was lifting rocks from within the ground (despite the floor being metal) to throw at the snake. But when he threw the rock, it merely dissolved into dust before it could hit the snake.

"Pixal, what just happened?"

"_It appears that this snake has the ability to neutralise Elemental abilities._" She replied. I gave the serpent a calculating gaze and it gave me one back, almost daring me to use my elemental power. Slowly, I raised an orb of ice and threw it at the serpent.

As I predicted, it melted into thin air before it could reach the snake.

"I would suggest you stop guys and let me finish explaining. There's no point in fighting _this_." Ronan gestured to the lime green serpent who began to back off.

Cole took a reluctant step back, glaring daggers at Ronan, waiting for him to continue.

"Chen, the guy who set up the Tournament of Elements, was not how you would say… _original_ when he came up with it." I couldn't help but feel some slight curiosity, who came up with the idea of the tournament?

"Before the Serpentine War, the Elemental Masters would travel to another realm, once a year to compete in a tournament to see who was the best fighter and to also improve their skills. The one who arranged them, has decided that now it is time for them to continue."

I glanced at Cole and he gave me an unsure look. I didn't know if we could believe Ronan. He _had_ betrayed us before in the past, I wasn't unwilling to bet he could do the same thing again.

"Who exactly is this person who arranges the tournaments?" Cole asked suspiciously.

"I believe his name is Katan-"

Suddenly another giant snake, identical to the one in front of us, except it had red scales and green eyes, slithered in. And in his coils were…

"Nya! Jay! Kai! What happened?" Kai was limp and he looked extremely pale. Nya was slightly dazed but alright and Jay had a large gash on his forehead that was still bleeding. Except for that he was fine and he seemed to be in a bad mood… not that was unexpected of course.

"Let us go, you stupid snake!" Jay yelled.

"Jay, y-your bleeding!" Cole called back, more than a little worried.

"I'm fine, it's very shallow. One of those coils kinda cut me… they're a _little_ sharp." Jay growled and continued to struggle, while Nya kept her arm around her brother.

"Let them go." Ronan sighed in exasperation. The red snake released the three ninja with very little care. The three were sprawled on the ground. Jay and Nya put Kai's arms around their shoulders and dragged him over to where we were standing.

"What is wrong with Kai?" I asked concernedly.

"What's wrong is that Mr Red Scales over there bit him!" Jay yelled hysterically.

Ronan sighed once again in exasperation and threw Nya a small bottle filled with a purple liquid.

"It's the antidote. The entire bottle should heal him up within about… say fifteen seconds." Nya's eyes widened and she tilted Kai's limp head back. She poured the concoction down his throat and I wondered if maybe Nya might have just poisoned her own brother.

"_Do not fret Zane. I have scanned the antidote and it carries no traces of poison or anything that could harm Kai._" Feeling relieved, I turned back to Ronan.

"Why did you let this happen? What _are_ those serpents?"

"They come from the realm the Elemental Masters used to compete in. My employer told me I could take some. I set off the alarms and waited for you guys to turn up. Once you did, I came out in the open to attract your attention and sent out… what was it? Mr Red Scales to track you three down so I could talk to all of you." Ronan explained triumphantly. I couldn't help but feel like there was a few things missing from that story. How did Ronan manage to get around this place without being seen?

"Wait… what?" Jay asked in confusion.

"Apparently Jay, the Elemental Masters of old used to compete in a realm to see who was the best fighter. Ronan's 'employer' is extending an invitation for us to continue this tradition." I explained. Jay and Nya raised their eyebrows in disbelief.

"And what makes you think we'll believe you?" Kai asked hoarsely, surprising everyone. He shakily got to his feet, but Nya still kept a firm arm on her brother to stop him from falling over, clearly the antidote hadn't fully worked.

"Nothing. It's your choice whether your want to come or not." Ronan said and handed me a piece of paper, with note explaining everything Ronan had just told us and below was room for six signatures.

"It's also a choice we're not going to make." A blast of green energy sent the serpents hurtling across the large security room. Lloyd had dropped from the ceiling... no, he had dropped from a platform that went around the entire room. There was a door in the wall above explaining how Lloyd had gotten to this second level without us noticing.

"And why is that Lloyd?" Ronan asked, clearly amused.

"Because we have no interest in it. We… we need to stay here to protect Ninjago." Lloyd said, but he sounded slightly unsure.

"Well, here's something that might interest you, Lloyd. My employer, the one who's arranged this entire event, is Katan Kage." Lloyd's eyes widened. He then narrowed his eyes at Ronan, but said nothing.

"I'll leave you here to decide whether or not you're going to join in on the fun. All you have to do is sign the sheet and you'll be transported to the realm." And with that Ronan walked out of the security room, the two serpents following him and sending Lloyd a small glare.

I stared at Lloyd in confusion… how could he attack those serpents? Did it have something to do with his element?

"Come on guys, we need to get back to the Bounty." Lloyd said curtly.

"Aren't we gonna capture him?" Cole asked slightly hopeful, it was clear Cole was _not_ happy with Ronan.

"No."

"But-"

"No, there's no point."

"Well-"

"NO COLE!" Lloyd snapped. I felt a little bit of shock. Lloyd hardly _ever_ lost his cool. "Cole, the serpents will be pretty difficult for you guys to fight because of... you know what they did. But they don't seem to be able to defend against my element. I…. I don't think I'd be able to defend against two of them, let alone defeat them."

Cole nodded, his transparent form sagging a little from the disappointment of not being able to go after Ronan. But I noticed how Jay and Nya gave a slight frown at that statement...

"Lloyd, your powers are very strong, maybe-"

"I think it's best we get back to the bounty." Lloyd gave me a firm look and I nodded, not giving away any of my shock or hurt at the fact that Lloyd had just blatantly ignored my suggestion.

"Good. Let's go."

* * *

I know, I was being such a jerk. We probably should have gone after Ronan. He had broken into a government high-tech facility. Of course, he hadn't stolen anything but… I still shouldn't have let him leave. I could have easily defeated those two serpents, okay… maybe not _easily_ but if the others had tried to distract the snakes I would've been able to take them out.

Then again, the serpent's wouldn't be the only living things taken out. Shivering slightly, I let my grip tighten further on the USB containing the encrypted file. If I could get Zane to scan through the encryptions then maybe he could _de-crypt_ it. Worth a shot.

I went out onto the training deck and was surprised he wasn't there… or any of the team for that matter. The last I had heard from the others were that they had wanted to get some extra training in. I had sighed and said it was fine with me, but I wasn't going to join them. That had earned me some concerned looks from my team. If anything, their concern infuriated me further than I already was.

Ever since I had joined the team they had been treating me like the younger brother I knew I was and hated. Sometimes I didn't mind it, but now I just wished they would give me some space to deal with my own problems.

Letting out a huff of frustration, I headed inside and made my way back to my room that I shared with the others. But as I walked down the corridor towards our room, I heard voices… _their_ voices.

As quietly as possible, I crept up to the door and poked my head around the threshold just slightly.

"Do you really think we should do it?" Cole asked. My eyebrows furrowed. Why were they discussing the tournament? I had already said we wouldn't be going. I didn't trust this Katan Kage (nor would I ever, for that matter). I could just tell that he spelt trouble, for us and Ninjago.

"Why not? It'll be a great chance to have some fun with the other Elemental Masters! From the sounds of it, there isn't _too_ much risk in competing. I mean, the previous Masters viewed it as a fun tradition, why can't we?" I was about to step in there to tell them exactly _why not_, but then Kai spoke.

"What about Lloyd?" My eyes narrowed. Had they been planning on going without me?

"What about him?" Cole asked. Okay, that hurt. Then again, I had been pretty rude toward him in the Labyrinth...

"Well, we can't just leave without him! He's our leader! Besides, I think he was right about us not going. This could be the perfect chance for our enemies to make their move if we're out of the way." I gave a small sigh of relief. I could always trust Kai to have my back.

"I don't know. He's been acting a little off lately. You know? Avoiding training, _reading_-"

"Jay, there is nothing peculiar about reading." Zane stated bluntly.

"Lloyd doing it _is_ peculiar, Zane." Jay bit back.

"Why don't we just go and ask him?" Nya asked. Yes, just come ask me! It's not like I would immediately say no. I was a little interested to find out more about this Katan Kage… but then I would have to _fight_ the other Elemental Masters… and my best friends!

"Because he's obviously going to say _no_, Nya." Jay replied. "And you didn't let me finish before. Didn't you say he ran off during the mission Cole? Yeah, well he hasn't told us anything about what he was _actually_ doing-"

Okay, this was going a little too far. I needed to step in and let Jay voice his mutinous thoughts with me _in_ the room.

"Hey guys! I was just wondering if I could talk to Zane for a moment." I felt a small triumph at their pure shock and slight nervousness at me entering the room.

"Why do want to speak with me Lloyd?" Zane asked completely nonplussed.

"Oh, well while I was on the mission, I found this computer. It had a bunch of encrypted files on it and this one really caught my attention. I downloaded it to this USB and I was wondering if Zane could de-crypt it for me." I couldn't help but note that everyone seemed to glance at Jay as I said that and gave them all a knowing smile.

"So… can you do it?" I asked again.

"Yes, it shouldn't take too long." Zane followed me out of the room and we walked up to the bridge.

There was a rather awkward silence, as he scanned the USB and plugged into the Bounty's central computer. I stood behind Zane watching the screen. He began to type in several complicated algorithms, all a little too fast for me to see (not that I would understand what he was doing if I could see the formulas).

"I am putting in a list of algorithms that could possibly de-crypt the file. Pixal and I came up with the program." I nodded as Zane answered my unasked question.

We waited about another minute before the screen flashed red three times and the encrypted file came up on the screen… except it was no longer confusing mumbo jumbo.

"'_The Realm Of Chaos - Facts and History_'. Is this what you were after Lloyd?" Zane asked me, slightly confused.

"I-I.."

I just stared at the file in disappointment. Why did I choose this one? Because the symbol on it looked familiar? It was just a stupid file on… another…

"U-Um… yes?" I sounded more uncertain than anything but Zane merely gave me a calculating gaze and then left. Glad I was now alone, I quickly got to work.

This was a file on a realm. Possibly the same realm that Katan Kage had been banished to. I could cross out Ninjago, the Cursed Realm and Cloud Kingdom… actually no, we may have been to both (well I had at least, if briefly) but that didn't mean Kage hadn't _been_ there. So that left me with... what, _fifteen _options. I sighed in frustration and began to read...

'_The Realm of Chaos is exactly what it's name suggests, chaotic. Said to house some of the darkest and demonic energy ever known in any other realm, the Realm of Chaos was used by an ancient, immortal race known as the Oni. From the carvings found in many mysterious temples in Ninjago, the Oni combine their dark energy with that of this realm to create extreme weapons of darkness to battle against their enemies. _

_No one, other than the Oni of course, has ever been able to travel to this chaotic hell but we know enough from it's many sister realms…'_

As soon as I read that line, my heart sank. If no one had ever been to this realm, except for these _Oni_, then there was no way Kage would have been sent there… was there? Maybe if I could find one of these Oni people, though they sounded… _evil_. Combining their dark energy with more to make weapons? Yeah, never mind. I _never_ wanted to meet one of those.

I continued to scroll down the page to see if any words jumped out at me… and plenty did. '_Dark...Evil...Demonic...Potential...Powerful...Danger...Fear...Uncontrollable.'_ Yeah, none of this sounded too pleasant… and a lot of it sounded familiar but I couldn't place _where_.

'_Sister Realms_'. I stopped. There was an entire page on the Realm of Chaos' sister realms. I didn't really get what that meant though. Were sister realms just realms that were similar in what they had within them? Curious, I decided to at least learn something from these seemingly pointless file.

'_A sister realm, as you should know, _(no, I didn't know), _is a realm that stands parallel to another realm. The two have to either be extremely similar or vastly different so much so they're almost exact opposites. Usually when a realm is destroyed or dies, it's sister realms go down with it.'_

This made me slightly concerned. Did Ninjago have a sister realm? If so, would that mean that the ninja and I will have to protect _that_ realm, in turn protecting Ninjago? '_Argh! I think our job as Ninjago's defenders just got a lot more complicated._' I thought.

'_The Realm of Chaos' sister realms include; The Elemental Realm, the First Realm and Ninjago.'_

Well that answered that question. Seems like if any of those three other realms died, Ninjago would too… well… this was more than a _little_ concerning.

'_The Elemental Realm is notorious for many reasons, one of the main being that it was used by Sorcerer Katan Kage to host the Elemental Tournament. A traditional tournament used by the Elemental Masters before the Serpentine War, to hone their skills and to have friendly competitions with one another. Ironically this was the same realm that said Sorcerer Kage was banished to after his gruesome murder of...'_

I stared at file in slight shock. It just ended. Was there going to be a name of the little boy who was murdered? Or was it just going to say exactly what the passage in Uncle Wu's book had said? Also Ronan hadn't been lying! And Katan Kage… he had been banished to the Elemental Realm… where the tournament was going to be held… I needed to get there.

With a new resolve, I left the bridge and headed down to where I had last seen the others. But when I opened the door to our bedroom, they weren't there.

The only thing that was there, was a single sheet of paper… with five signatures on it.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, I think I'll be evil and leave it at that. I really enjoyed writing this one. Also, the whole Oni and sister realm I hadn't actually planned but while I was writing, I thought 'Oh this would be cool' and now I have a really good idea for it.**

**So what do you think so far?**

**There are a few purposeful plot holes I put in there that will be filled DO NOT WORRY! Also, Lloyd doesn't really know what a sister realm (is that what they're even called?) is because he didn't remember the events of Season 6, I think only Jay and Nya did. **

**Please let me know your thoughts in a review, they really motivate me to continue and critique my writing. Especially if any of the characters are OOC, please let me know because they are not supposed to be!**

**Thanks so much to; NaninaDaPanda, Shanni-channi, Zena Airale, and the very special Guest, who have reviewed, faved and/or followed! You guys are amazing and so are all of my readers/viewers!**

**Until next time!**

**SkyD12 Out!**


	3. The Elemental Realm

**A/N: Hello my wonderful readers!**

**So sorry you guys had to wait so long! I have my excuses, but they're not going to change anything so, SORRY!**

**This upcoming chapter is a bit of filler but also not… you'll get what I mean when you finish reading. I had so much writer's block though trying to begin this. My friend says she never gets writer's block and I just want to grab her and yell "TEACH ME YOUR SECRETS!"**

**Anyway, Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Three: The Elemental Realm**

I couldn't believe it. '_They _actually _left me. What the flippin' heck? I thought we were a team! When Zane left they must've signed the sheet!_' All these thoughts and more were racing through my brain. I held the sheet Ronin gave us, reading through each signature over and over. I don't know why, it just angered me further. Even Kai of all people signed it! I thought he was on my side.

The anger was brewing in my chest, I could feel it. Some might say I was overreacting. But this was my team! And… they had just _left_ me! I balled my fist, in turn, scrunching the signed sheet up. I was tempted to blast the pathetic piece of paper to smithereens, when I calmed down enough to think.

Destroying the paper may have some… _unwanted_ results. I've heard tales of magical contracts being signed and then being destroyed, the one or ones bound to the contract didn't always end well. Instead, I shoved the sheet none to gently into my Ninja gi pocket.

"Ninja? Where are you? You are losing valuable training time!" I heard my Uncles voice echo throughout the halls of the bounty. Despite myself, I smiled. It was just like Wu to be concerned with training at a time like this… then again, he didn't really know.

"Lloyd? Where are the others?" Wu walked into our room, a look of slight worry on his face.

"They're gone." I replied simply. I didn't really want to explain right now.

"Gone? Gone where?" Wu asked calmly, though I could see the slight panic etched into his face. I shrugged.

"If my research is correct, the Elemental Realm." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Wu stiffen.

"The Elemental Realm? Lloyd, what do you know…"

"Oh, only that a guy named Katan Kage was banished there and it is one of Ninjago's sister realms." Wu's eyes narrowed at my brief, monotone explanation.

"Come, Lloyd. Tell me what happened on that mission. It is clearly the cause of this mess." Wu gave a look that told me, I was not leaving this room until I gave him a decent reason to why the Ninja left.

"We found the culprit of the 'break-in'. Ronin wanted to lure us in to 'invite' us to another tournament. Apparently that tournament wasn't like the Tournament of Elements. It was merely Ronin's employer wanting to recreate an old tradition that the Elemental Masters used to participate in. After digging around a little, I found he wanted to take us to the Elemental Realm, which is where Katan Kage is."

"And why would Ronin want to take you to Kage?" Wu asked sternly. He clearly wasn't liking the topic of the sorcerer. Again, my thoughts wandered to who Kage might've murdered.

"According to Ronin, Kage is his employer." Wu's eyebrows raised.

"And so where are the ninja?" Wu asked, though I was pretty sure he already knew.

"They signed this contract that transported them to the Elemental Realm… well that's my presumption anyway." I fell silent, letting Wu know that I was done.

"They didn't consult you Lloyd?" Wu asked curiously.

"Oh, they consulted me alright. But did they listen to me? No. I'm just their leader, why would they bother?" I knew I shouldn't have been feeling so bitter, they had every right to leave. It wasn't like I was being open with them or anything. I just still felt… _betrayed_ somehow.

"I see. Well, we must go after them. But _you_ will be staying here." Wu stated firmly.

"What! Why?"

"Because Katan Kage is a master of deception and manipulation. He most likely wanted you to chase after the Ninja and end up entering yourself into this 'tournament'." I sighed, seeing the logic in Wu's reasoning.

"Now, Lloyd. Misako and I will go and find them. _You_ will be in charge of defending Ninjago until we return."

"Yes, Uncle." I said in an annoyed tone.

"Lloyd, your power can not, and I mean can not fall into the wrong hands. Better we preserve what we have in hopes for a different future, than use it at the cost of losing everything." I nodded, understanding, if but slightly confused.

"Good. I'll go update your mother. And then we will return to the labyrinth to collect the realm crystal." And with that Wu left the room. I stared after him in frustration. Though he was right with the whole, we-can-not-risk-letting-my-power-be-used-by-someone-else, thingo, I didn't want to be considered as merely an asset to the Ninja.

To be honest, I had been my entire life. An asset to my Father. An asset to the Serpentine. An asset to Pythor. I had been played for as long as I could remember. If I had never become the Green ninja, I would've been a mere weight to the team. They would've gotten rid of me years ago. Angrily, I kicked the bunkbed Kai and I share.

An explosion sounded and I was blasted against the bedroom wall. I shakily got to my feet and took a deep breath to calm my nerves. Luckily, all I had done was merely charred the wood and disintegrated the bedding, nothing too dramatic… for my standards anyway.

I made my way up to the bridge and was relieved to see that we were already on our way back to the Labyrinth.

"Hey Lloyd. What was that noise?" Mum asked kindly, as she steered the ship.

"Oh, I-er-dropped something." I chuckled nervously and Mum frowned but only slightly.

"Must have been pretty big to make a sound like that." Mum stated calmly.

"Y-Yeah… I guess it was." I didn't really know where to go after that.

"What's wrong?"

"What?"

"You're annoyed at the ninja, aren't you?"

"No, what makes you say that?" I asked quickly. Mum sighed and then smiled at me.

"Lloyd, I'm going to give you some advice I wish I had been told many years ago. Don't boil up your feelings. If you do, the stress will get to you. No matter how hard you try and repress them, they'll catch up to you, Lloyd. So if you ever need to… _deal_ with anything, you know I'm here." Mum gave me a warm smile and I tried to return it, but I just grimaced.

"I-I will keep that in mind." Mum gave me slight nod. I got up and left the bridge to go out to the deck.

I knew I probably did need to deal with my frustration, but how? I couldn't just do what Kai does, and blow up pretty much everything in sight. '_You'd probably do more than that_.' A dark voice in my head said. I couldn't help but agree.

* * *

Groaning, I squeezed my eyes shut in pain. I tried to move but my sore limbs screamed in protest. Clearly Ronin forgot to warn us that the contract's method of transportation wasn't exactly the most _comfortable_ method out there.

"Nya? You alive?" I heard Jay's voice from somewhere on my left ask jokingly.

"Barely." I croaked. Gritting my teeth, I cracked my eyes open just slightly and slowly moved my arms behind me so I was propped up in a sitting position. Looking around at the others, I could see they were struggling too. Well, Zane and Cole weren't too bad, but to be fair one was a nindroid, the other a ghost.

"I"m going to _kill_, Ronin." Kai growled darkly.

"Normally I would tell you off for threatening people, but this time I _totally_ agree with you." I replied to his comment, half-jokingly, half-serious.

"It's worth the view though." Jay shrugged and I could see what he meant. It was clearly night, but the sky was so bright it was a wonder that people might actually be able to sleep here. It was a deep navy blue, some parts had bright royal blue patches and I swore I could see streaks of silver and turquoise in amongst all the blue. There were clusters of stars littering the sky and everything few minutes, a shooting star would fly past. The moon was full and glowed a brilliant gold instead of silver.

But the sky had nothing on the extravagant building in front of us. The most beautiful palace I had ever seen, towered over us. It was at least 10 stories high and it's walls seemed to be made out of different coloured crystals. These crystals reflected the star's light, making it look like the entire palace was glowing bright with every colour of the rainbow. The giant, oak wood, double doors had dragon patterns on it that curled and circled a crystal knocker.

Spanning out from the palace were sectors or zones, each with their own element. Each section had different weather and a different environment to match it. I quickly spotted out the water zone, as it was nothing but endless sea for miles with a few water lilies and other plants growing across it.

I stayed staring at the beautiful view, until Zane interrupted my thoughts.

"So, should we go knock?" He asked practically.

"Huh?"

"There is a knocker on the palace. As this is the only shelter I can see for a very long way, I do believe it would be wise to refuge within it." The rest of us nodded at his reasoning and we approached the palace.

The palace seemed to be situated on a circle of more coloured crystal, with a stone bridge leading to the front doors, over the moat that glittered in the golden moonlight.

"This place… it's just so… _surreal_." I whispered in awe.

"Yeah, I can see why someone would want to live here." Kai whispered back, it was almost as if we were afraid of breaking the silent atmos-

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Really Zane?" Jay asked in exasperation.

"What? We were going to knock on the door to request refuge?" Zane replied nonchalantly. Kai and Cole just face palmed.

Suddenly, there was a creak coming from the great big double doors. They were both pushed aside to reveal, Ronin.

"Hey guys. Glad you all could make it." He smiled flippantly, as if we had all been invited to a party.

"Could you stop grinning like that! You could've _warned_ us that the teleportation hurts like _hell_!" Kai half-yelled, half-growled.

"Yeah well, it was fun watching you guys lay there for like, an hour." Kai looked ready to kill (which he definitely was), but luckily before he could say or do anything, Cole stepped in.

"Um, there aren't any windows on the palace… how did you…?" He asked in confusion.

"Oh, there's windows. You just can't see them from the outside." I frowned at his statement, but decided to shrug it off. I was most likely gonna understand it later.

"Anyway, you guys better come in and meet my employer. He's pretty excited that you're all here." As I walked inside my jaw dropped. The hall I had just stepped into was way too big to be what I had seen on the outside. The ceiling was so high, you could only just make it out. The wall's were made out of a white marble and the floor was carpeted with thick, fluffy red rugs. They seemed to be placed about randomly, as if somebody just came in, dumped them on the floor and spread them all out. This made the floor incredibly uneven, but it made the place feel like an actual home, not a palace. There was a spiral staircase at the back of the hall and dragons were etched into the marble walls, each circling a different coloured crystal. The windows were just gaps in the marble wall that revealed the rainbow crystal on the outside and distorting the landscape.

"It's..." I was lost for words. If this was only the entrance hall, what was the rest of the palace like?

"Beautiful." Jay finished simply. My brother and Cole were gaping like fish out of water, while Zane was just staring at Ronin waiting for him to lead them onward.

I saw Ronin smile and he cleared his voice,"Welcome to the Elemental Palace." He announced.

* * *

"I hope you can find them. Wherever they've gone… it can't be good." Borg shivered and he and Wu shared a quick look of understanding. I looked at them in confusion.

"Who knows? They might be just fine." I shrugged optimistically. It was a mask of course, from what I'd read about Katan Kage, I knew that he wasn't a problem to be treated lightly.

"If that Sorcerer is involved then…' Borg shared another glance with Wu and then my Mum, 'I don't even want to think about it…" '_What on earth?_' I thought, '_Seriously! What's so important that they can't tell the flippin' Green ninja?_'

I plastered on a small smile and turned to Mum. "Could I talk to you?" She gave me an unreadable expression and then nodded grinning slightly.

"We'll go get the Realm Crystal. You should probably prepare the Bounty, Misako." I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"You're taking the Bounty? Where am I gonna go?" That was a stupid question and I knew it. I spent so much time away from the Bounty patrolling Ninjago that I really didn't need to worry about having a place to live for a few days… but maybe Mum would _forget_ that?

"You'll be fine, son. There are many places in Ninjago that would let you stay." I nodded reluctantly. "Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"What did Katan Kage do to get himself banished?" Mum didn't say anything for a very long time before she answered.

"I can't tell you that, son. It's too horrible to think about." I didn't really want to take that as an answer, but I knew I wasn't going to get anything more out of her.

"Why can't I go with you?" I asked suddenly. Mum opened her mouth to reply, then closed it. She looked like she was in deep thought.

"Lloyd, if something has happened to the others, we don't need to get you involved too." Mum's answer made no sense at all. But clearly she was purposely igoring her nonsensical answer, because she was now entering the bridge of the Bounty.

"But… if they _are_ in danger… shouldn't I be going _with_ you?" Mum just shrugged off the question and began to power up the flying ship. My eyes narrowed in frustration. Okay, sure, maybe I need to stay here to protect Ninjago, but there hadn't been any word, from any of our enemies, for _ages_! If I just left for a day or two, it wouldn't affect anything, would it?

"Good luck, Mum." I said quickly and abruptly left the bridge.

When I got back to Borg, Wu was with him, with the Realm Crystal. "Mum's on the bridge." I stated bluntly. Wu gave me a look of concern, but said nothing.

"I will go join her. Keep Ninjago safe, Lloyd." Wu, climbed aboard Destiny's Bounty and entered the bridge. A moment later, the ship was in the air, flying toward a blue and black portal.

* * *

"Greetings, Ninja! I am Katan Kage and this is my palace! I hope you found your way here alright?" A voice I could not see asked.

"_Alright_ is one way to put it." I grumbled.

"Hm, my apologies Master of Lightning. Clearly Ronin and I need to have a conversation about how to treat our _guests_." The way this voice said 'guests' made me shiver. Ronin just shrugged, gave us a tantilising smile and left through a door I hadn't noticed before now.

Finally, the man who's the voice belonged to, emerged from the large staircase, at the other end of the room. He wore green and silver robes, decorated with silver and black scales. On his back was a black cloak and poking out of his belt I could also see a sharp, silver sword. '_Why does he need a sword?_' I thought, '_I'm pretty sure it's not a good idea to greet your _guests _with pointy sharp objects!_' He had dark hair, with streaks of grey and he had a short unkempt beard. "_Wu's is far more impressive._' I couldn't help but think.

"Anyway, welcome to the Elemental Realm! I will need to get you si-... five?" The man, _Katan_, whatever, frowned and I could have sworn he almost growled. Suddenly, his face brightened again.

"Where, may I ask, is your sixth member?" It was a simple, polite question, but I didn't think we should answer it.

"Never you mind." Kai growled a little forcefully. I nodded in agreement, smirking at Katan's slightly shocked face.

"And why shouldn't I? He was invited after all." Katan pressed, clearly starting to get frustrated.

"He's busy. And since we're all asking questions, why do you have a sword? Think we're gonna attack you or something?" I asked, smirking again when Katan looked at me especially peeved.

"Self-protection, as you should know, is highly important. _Especially_ when dealing with Elemental Masters who don't want to cooperate." Katan smiled politely at me. "Now, I won't press for anymore details, I'm sure your comrade will join us shortly. But first, I will need to know your names."

"I'm Jay, I'm pretty sure you already know our elements, so I'm not going to bother saying mine." I spoke up first, wanting to get his over and done with, so I could talk to the others in private.

"Kai."

"Cole."

"Ah, yes. The ghost ninja. I believe your abilities will be most handy in the Tournament." Katan beamed at Cole. I was on the verge of face palming. '_Way to be sensitive, bozo._' I thought.

"My name's Nya. And if you say anything or congratulate me because I'm a girl, you have another thing coming." I smiled in pride at Nya. She caught my eye and gave me a smug smile back. There was no way we were trusting this guy.

"I'm Zane. It's a pleasure to meet you Mr Kage." Okay, this time I did facepalm. '_Seriously Zane?_'

"I'm glad to see one of you are polite enough to introduce themselves properly." Katan gave Zane a winning grin, but I choked on a laugh as Zane just narrowed his eyes at Katan.

"We have our reasons for not trusting you. As you should know." Zane replied simply.

"Yet you still came?" Katan asked innocently.

"Curiosity killed the cat." Zane shrugged smartly. Katan sighed and then clapped his hands. Servants, dressed in simple gold and silver togas began to flood the room (I don't know how they did, there is literally, like, _one_ door in this hall).

"My servants will escort each of you to your rooms. Please, try and enjoy your stay." I laughed and shook my head in disbelief. I didn't know what this guy was playing at, but he was _definitely_ not going to earn _any_ of our trust.

* * *

Wu and Mum were gone. The portal had closed, and now I literally had no way to follow them or go to rescue them if they got into trouble. Well… except...

"Well, you're welcome to stay at the Tower, Lloyd." Borg interrupted me. I nodded and then sighed.

"I don't think I will, I-"

"Need to protect the Realm Crystal?" He asked.

"Ye-... wait, what?"

"Wu agreed that I would keep the Crystal. In case something or someone stole it in the Elemental Realm." I widened my eyes and smiled. Borg lifted his hand and for the first time, I realised he had been holding it to open the portal, not Wu.

"So, wait, you think _I_ should guard it?" I asked hopefully.

"Well, yes. I figured you'd need something to do while all your friends are gone. I need to return home to check a few things, do you think you could put this back in the Labyrinth and guard it? After Ronin's break in, I don't know how trustworthy our security systems are." I nodded enthusiastically and Borg chuckled handing over the Crystal.

"I'll be back to check on it tomorrow, Lloyd!" He added and pushed a button on a remote. A few minutes later, a helicopter lowered itself beside the Labyrinth. Now, with Borg aboard, it left, leaving me to the Crystal.

I knew I probably shouldn't do it. Wu and Mum had told me to stay here to protect Ninjago… and Mum apparently thought I could get seriously hurt in the Elemental Realm. I doubted it though, my powers were beyond enough to protect me and Ninjago was fine as it was. Afterall, I was only gonna be gone for a day… or two… right?

* * *

**A/N: Done! I hope you enjoyed that! Please fav, follow and leave a review! I want to know what you guys think.**

**Thanks to:**

**Fires of Darkness, Anonymous Fan (Guest), NaninaDaPanda, Shanni-channi, Zena Airale, and the very special Guest reviewer!**

**You guys are amazing for sticking with this story so far! I'll hopefully have the next chapter out in a fortnight, but I promise I won't keep you waiting for as long as I did again!**

**Until next time!**

**SkyD12 Out!**


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